Lifting-jack.



. A. NEAL.

LIFTING JACK.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.27, 1913.

Patented June 23, 1914.

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A. NEAL.

LIFTING JACK.

APPLICATION FILED 00'1.27, 1913. 1,100,903. Patented June 23, 1914.

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ALBERT NEAL, 0F CENTER, INDIANA.

LIFTING-JACK.

niooeos.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT NEAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Center, in the county of Howard and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifting-Jacks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements of lifting-jacks for lifting automobiles, railroad tracks and rails, wagons and other heavy vehicles and loads, for stretching fence wire, and for all purposes requiring a powerful mechanism.

The object of the invention is to provide a jack operated by a single hand lever so combined with other mechanism that by oscillating the lever the lifting action will be developed and by increasing the angular movement of the hand lever the action of the jack will be reversed to lower the load gradually, and by still further downward movement of the lever the associated parts of the jack will be thrown out of engagement so as to allow the lifting bar to drop instantly to its lowest position by gravity.

I accomplish the objects of my invention by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of my invention showing the parts in position for raising the lifting bar, the handle lever being here shown at the lower end of its stroke for this purpose. Fig. 2 is an elevation of same looking in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section the same as is shown in Fig. 1 with the exception that the hand lever and pawl mechanism are shown in full lines in the higher position of the hand lever assumed by it in the operation of gradually lowering the lifting bar, and also omitting the springs which press the pawls into engagement, this omission being for the sake of greater clearness by avoiding confusion of lines. This figure shows the hand lever in its lowest position, in dotted lines, in connection with the pawls operated by it, and shows the latter withdrawn from engagement with the lifting bar so as to allow the latter to drop quickly by gravity, and Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line %4: of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 27, 1913.

Serial No. 797,515.

My invention comprises a base, 5 from which an integral hollow standard 6 eX tends in an upward direction, and formed integral with the standard and projecting in the same direction therefrom are the two parallel plates 7 which form the sides of a housing within which the pawls and inner end of the operating lever are assembled, and to which the operating lever 8 is pivoted by means of a pivot pin 9. This inner end of the lever 8 is preferably bifurcated to permit of the location of the operating pawls between the members of the bifurcated end, to which members the pawls are Patented une 23, 1914.

pivotally attached. The standard 6 is provided with a longitudinal slot 10 on the opposite side from lever 8, and mounted with a close sliding fit in the hollow standard 6 is a lifting bar 11 having a longitudinal rib 12 entering the slot 10 ofjlfi the standard as shown in Fig. 2. The lower end of the lifting bar has an extension 13 for engagement with any object which cannot be engaged more readily by the upper.

end of the lifting bar. The lower end of the lifting bar is reduced in thickness and is formed with an eye 14 to receive a hook on a chain or cable when'the jack is used for pulling purposes. The opposite or upper end of the lifting bar terminates with a head 15 suitably shaped to receive a load. The base 5 is provided with a transverse opening 16 for better connection with objects to be acted upon by the device, and the standard is provided with an opening 17 through its wall, into the housing between the parallel plates 7, through which the pawls operated by the hand lever 8 come into engagement with the lifting bar 11.

Formed along the side of the lifting bar 11 opposite the flange 12, is a series of notches 18 to be engaged by pawls carried by the hand lever 8. There are two of these pawls, both pivoted near their lower end to ing the bifurcated end of said hand lever. The shorter of these pawls 19 is pivoted on the opposite side of pivot 9 from the handleend of the lever 8, while the longer pawl 20 the hand lever 8 between the members formis pivoted to the lever between the pivot 9 and the handle-end of the lever 8. The pivot points of the two pawls are here shown as equi-distan't from the center of pivot 9. The outer or free ends of both pawls 19 and 20 are adapted to engage corfrom its pivot, both of said extensions being much narrower than the width of their respective pawls as is shown in Fig. 1. These extensions are lon itudinally grooved on their sides next to tie standard 6, to receive the arms of spirally wound springs 23 and 21-, which springs press the extensions 21 and 22 in outward directions thereby causing the upper end of the pawls to contact 1 with thenotched side of the lifting bar 11.

The two pawls 19 and 20 are curved as shownin Figs. 1 and 3 to cause their upper ends to readily enter the notches 18 the latter are presentedpand the pawls are proportionedin length to cause them to alternately engage and release notches in the liftingbar by the oscillation of the hand lever 8 through a comparatively small angular movei'nent approximately IHMlWt'Ly of the possible angular movement of said lever in both directions. As shown in Fig- 1, the pawl 20 has been'in engagement with the notch next above it, and by the lowering of the hand lever the pawl 19 has entered a notch in the lifting barand has raised the bar so as to withdraw the pawl from its notch. and by a little higher lift of the bar, produced by a slight further downward movement of the hand lever the pawl 20 -will drop into the next lower notch and then, by an upward movement of the hand lever the lifting bar will be raised thereby drawing the notch holding pawl 19, away from the latter, and by further upward anovement of thelifting bar 11 due to the action of lever 3 and pawl 20 the pawl 19 will drop into the next lower notch. The direction of movement of the hand lever 8 will then'be reversed which will repeat the first part of the above describedoperation,

and it will then be continued as above de scribed.

To lower the lifting bar, and consequently the load, step by step, my mechanism is con -trived so as to accomplish this by a somewhat greater angular movement of the hand lever in both directions. Thus, if the load is supported by the top pawl 20, as in Fig. 3, the 7 position of the lever 8 is such as to lower the pawl 19 to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 which brings the dog 25 carried by the pawl 19, into contact with a trip bar 26 thereby forcing the pawl 19 out of engagement with thelifting bar 11 and holding it out of engagement until the lifting bar is lowered by lowering the hand lever to direct the pawl 19 into the next notch'above that in which it was: last previously seated. The pawl 19 is slotted through its middle portion in the manner contacts with the body of the pawl at thelower end of the said dog receiving slot to thereby limit the swinging adjustment of the dog.

The trip bar 26 is pivotally attached at its lower end to a pin 30 on the end of the extension22 from pawl 20." It is thence curved inwardly and upwardly as shown and has a bearing under normal conditions upon a rib 31 extending integrally from the standard 6 between the plate extension? of the housing. This end is provided with a crescentshape flange 32 shown in dotted lines which bears against the inner side of the rib and aids in retaining the trip bar upon the rib. The arm of spring 24 is extended after c0ntacting with the pawl extension 22, across the inner side of the trip bar 26 and presses the latter in a direction to cause its flange to bear against the side of rib 31. The trip bar 26 has a lug 32 formed on its side adjacent to the pawl extension 21 and adapted to contact with the extension 21 and push the trip bar in a direction to throw its upper loose end of? of rib 31. The ver tical sides of the lug 32 are oblique in order to secure a wedge like action of the lug against the pawl extension 21 when the hand lever 8 is in its positions of movement illustrated in Fig. 1 for raising the lifting bar 11. During those times the trip bar is pushed oi'l 'to one side of the rib 31, out of the path of the dog 27, and its flange 32 is then seated in a groove 33 in the standard. This groove is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. T he outer side of the trip bar 26 is provided with notches 34 near the upper end of said bar, in one of which, depending upon the height to which the lever 8 is raised, the point 27 of the dog is engaged by the raising of lever 8 in the manner shown in full lines in Fig. 3, and this portion of the dog is held in said notch during the early portion of the lowering of the lever 8 thereby forcing and holding the pawl 19 away from the notches of the lifting bar 11, but releasing the pawl 19 after it has passed a tooth and is in position to enter the next notch higher upon the lifting bar 11 than it just previously occupied. The opposite point 28 of the released dog comes into contact with a notch in the lug 36 on the adjacent side of the pawl 20 as the dog passes said lug by the downward movement of lever 8. This engagement is retained during the succeeding upward movement of the lever 8 long enough to hold the pawl 20 away from the notched lifting bar until the upper end of the pawl has reached a position to enter the next notch above the one last previously occupied by it. The points 27 and 28 of the dog are thus alternately brought into play to hold the pawls l9 and 20 away from the lifting bar by a greater angular movement of the hand lever 8 than is required for producing an upward or lifting movement of the bar 11.

In railroad work in lifting the rails and ties along the track and for other purposes it is frequently desirable to drop the lifting bar quickly at one movement of the latter instead of step by step as above described. This quick action is secured by lowering the hand lever 8 to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The point 28 of the dog carried by pawl 19 is then seated in the highest notch of lug 36, and the pawl 20 will be held so far away from the lifting bar 11 that when it is finally released by the dog it will be opposite an oblique guide 37 mounted in the housing at the upper end of the standard 6 and when the lever 8 is next raised the pawl 20 will pass up into the housing outside of standard 6 thereby not contacting with the lifting bar and the pawl 19 will be held out of contact with the lifting bar in the same manner as is illustrated in full lines in Fig. 3,tl1at is by the engagement of point 27 of the dog with the notched trip bar 26. The lifting bar 11 will thus be freed from both of the pawls 19 and 20 and will drop to its lowest position by gravity. The standard 6 will he provided with hooks 38 at its upper end for greater convenience in adapting the jack to all classes of work. The front of the housing will preferably be closed by means of a sheet metal plate 39, except for a slot 40 formed in said plate for the free operation of the hand lever therethrough.

\Vhile I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction herein for the reason that many changes in form, proportion and minor details are possible without departing from the principle or advantages of my invention and lVhat I therefore desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In a lifting jack, a hollow standard, a notched lifting bar in said hollow standard, said standard having a pair of handlelever-supporting plates, a handle-lever pivotally supported by and between said plates, a pawl pivoted to the lever between the inner end of the lever and the lever pivot, a second and longer pawl pivoted to the lever between the lever pivot and lever handle, both of said pawls having extensions on opposite sides of their pivots from the respective pawls, springs pressing said extensions to contact the pawls with the notched lifting bar, and a dog to alternately hold the two pawls away from the lifting bar at the respective greater angular throws of the hand lever.

2. In a lifting jack, a hollow standard, a notched lifting bar in said hollow standard, said standard having a pair of handlelever-supporting plates, a handle-lever pivotally supported by and between said plates, a pawl pivoted to the lever between the inner end of the lever and the lever pivot said pawl having a slot, a second longer pawl pivoted to the lever between the pivot and handle of the lever, both of said pawls having extensions on opposite sides of their pivots from their respective pawls, springs pressing said extensions to contact the pawls with the notched lifting bar, a trip bar, and a dog pivotally mounted in the slot of said first pawl and adapted to engage the trip bar in the higher angular positions of the hand lever and to engage the other pawl at the lower positions of said hand lever to hold said pawls away from the lifting bar at said angular positions of the hand lever.

3. In a lifting jack, a hollow standard, a notched lifting bar in said hollow standard, said standard having a pair of handlelever-sup )orting plates, a handle-lever pivotally supported by and between said plates, a pawl pivoted to the lever between the inner end of the lever and the lever pivot said pawl having a slot, a second longer pawl pivoted to the lever between the pivot and handle of the lever, both of said pawls having extensions on opposite sides of their pivots from their respective pawls, springs pressing said extensions to contact the pawls with the notched lifting bar, a trip bar pivoted at one end to the extension of the said longer pawl and terminating between the standard and said first pawl, said trip bar and said longer pawl each having notches on their sides toward the other pawl, and a dog pivotally mounted in the slot of said first pawl and adapted to engage a notch of the trip bar in the higher angular positions of the hand lever and to engage a notch of the other pawl at the lower positions of the hand lever to alternately hold the two pawls away from the lifting bar at the respective greater angular throws of said hand lever.

4. In a lifting jack, a hollow standard, a notched lifting bar in said hollow standard, a handle lever pivotally supported by the standard, a pair of pawls pivoted to the handle lever on opposite sides of the lever pivot and engaging the notched lifting bar at their free ends, springs to press the pawls normally into engagement with the notched lifting bar and means comprising a dog pivoted to one of the pawls a notched lifting bar in said hollow stand ard,a handle lever pivotally supported by the standard, a pair ofpawls' pivoted to the handle lever on opposite sides of the lever pivot and 'engaging'the notched liftingbar attheir "endsopposite the pivots,

springsto press the pawls normally into ei'iga'geinentwvmh the notched l1ft1n'g bar and means comprising a dogpivoted to one of the pawls to hold the two paivls away from the lifting bar said means being operated by the handle bar at its extreme angularthrows.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 22nd day of October, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and thirteen.

ALBERT NEAL. 11. s.]

Cables of this patent may be obtained foi' five cents each'gby addiessing the Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, I). 0. 

